Gus Wing, D-7117, a frequent contributor to PARACHUTIST, supplied this cover shot of Karen Milliken, D-5984, exiting the DC-3 Mr. Douglas over Palatka, FL.  Gus also supplied the color photos for the feature story on funnels on page 22.

Gus Mattia caught this shot of George and Harriet McCulloch, one of the most unique teams in skydiving today.  Mattia's story about the McCullochs appears on page 17 of this issue.

Erick Vickery of Bedford, MA caught this shot of the Golden Knights opening the 1982 National Para-ski Championships in Great Barrington, MA.  (Story on page 19).  The Knights choreographed the demo perfectly—they touched down just as the last notes of the National Anthem sounded.

From the "Please Release Me, Let Me Go" department comes this photo of Jorma Oster and what's left of his canopy, being dropped from a tri-plane over Malmi Airport in Helsinki, Finland  Oster used a Nikon camera with a wide-angle lens mounted on his leg to get the photo.  Oster, 28, has about 700 jumps, most of them with a camera, and is editor of Finland's "Laskuvarjourhirlu" parachuting magazine.

John Noak, D-6410, caught this shot of Clay Muse, Harry Becker and others flooding out the door of a Twin Beech over Coolidge, AZ.

Pattie Gillespie caught Joy Burtis landing on the bow of the 65-foot yacht Shaman in Lake Union near Seattle, WA on her 1,000th jump.  Jumps of this nature can be very tricky and must be made in accordance with USPA's Basic Safety Regulations.  In addition, they should also conform with USPA Part 113, Doctrine, Water Jumps; and USPA Part 118, Doctrine, Demonstration Jumps.

Gus Wing, D-7117, took this sunset photo of the Perris Valley CReW team at the World Meet Boogie.  Gus, a regular jumper in Orange, VA, is currently residing in Zephyrhills, FL.

U.S. Parachute Team photographer Jim Baker caught this shot of Glenn Bangs, Mark Gabriel and Bob Finn of the U.S. 4-way Team lined up on 40-Tango for a practice exit shortly before their gold medal finish in the World Parachuting Championships.  Not pictured is the fourth member of the team, Andy Gerber (who is inside the aircraft).  This month's story on the World Meet, and the U.S. Team's gold sweep, begins on page 15.

Rob Omstead, D-6747, Ernie Smith, C-14793, and Barney Kerr, C-12331, of the Scravel Hill Skydivers splash down during a demo jump into the Albany Timber Carnival in Oregon.  Photographer Vickie Dufur, with 99 jumps and a fresh piece of plaster on her leg, is also a member of the club.

Bob "Feisty" Feisthamel, Daryl S. Dassinger, Robert Suchor, Rocco Varriano and Jim Christensen build a 5-stack during the West Coast CRW Championships meet (see story, page 39).  The photo was taken by Kari Seppanen, C-8092, a Seattle-area jumper who has logged some 1800 skydives and is a USPA Instructor and master rigger.

Washington, DC artist Clarence Thorne featured the 20th anniversary theme in creating this year's official U.S. National Championships emblem.  The design appeared on T-shirts, souvenirs and now this month's cover, highlighting the special report on the Nationals, skydiving's biggest competitive event each year.

Rod Stafford, who painted this month's cover for PARACHUTIST, is an illustrator with Eastman Kodak.  He also does free-lance work, doing everything from technical illustrations to portraits.  Stafford, whose painting represents his brief general impressions of sport parachuting, has himself taken up jumping recently.

U.S. Army Parachute Team photographer Phil Rogge captured this shot of the Golden Knights in a unique formation:  four rodeo-rider 2-ways with all grips complete.  A full story on Wild and Crazy Skydives appears on page 45.

Carl Boenish snapped this shot of a color-coordinated 16-way donut flake against the clouds.  The jump was one of several made in preparation for the 60-way built in Florida Easter Weekend.  Joe Svec's story on the 60-way begins on page 37.

USPA President Larry Bagley captured this shot of new U.S. Para-ski Champion Tom Heinecke about to bury the disc at the Park West Para-ski meet.  This month's story about the Para-ski Championships begins on page 21.

Alaric R. Sampson, D-6127, caught this shot of Jeff Hicks, Walt Knodle, Tony Cory, Elizabeth St. Goar and Chip Port exiting a Sikorsky S58-T helicopter over Livermore, CA.  A member of the California Parachute Club at LIvermore, Sampson recently made his 900th jump there.

Norman Kent designed a special camera mount to capture this shot of an exit from Kennie Gibson's five-place balloon over Perris Valley. That's Kent on the bottom, shooting up at Robin Lopez and Kent's wife, Diana.

"Diver" Dan Gonzales displays the typical reaction to the typical pie facial after his 1,000th jump at Pacific Parachute Center in Sheridan, OR.  The 1,000-jump load was a 16-way Jewel, with Diver Dan backing the 16th.  Pictures at left are participants on the load: left to right kneeling—Paul (Rastus) Siemienczuk, Terry Kowing, Randy Kerr, Mike Milota and Tim Davies; left to right standing—Diver Dan, Terry (Bonz) Dean, Nancy Smith, Mike (Michigan) Sandberg, Marty Scott, Steve Wells, Lance R. O'Mance, Sally Wenner, Larry (LDK) Kelley and Jack DeChristopher.  Not pictures is Russell Rallens.  Both photos by Susan E Ferrell.

Rick Snow caught this shot of Mitch Decoteau leaving the formation early becausae of an inadvertent opening over Zephyrhills.

Pat McGowan touches down on snow capped Sibley Pond in West Pittsfield, ME.  Photo by Helen Godin.